Mini Case Study #3: Salesforce — Category Leader, But Eroding in SME AI Prompts

Abstract
This case study applies the AIVO Standard™ Prompt-Space Occupancy Score (PSOS™) to Salesforce, analyzing its visibility across AI assistants (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Grok). Salesforce maintains clear leadership in enterprise CRM queries but shows measurable erosion in SME-focused prompts and weaker recall outside North America — exposing a structural visibility gap that challengers are exploiting.

Findings

• Overall PSOS: 74 — Upper-tier visibility, but only narrowly ahead of HubSpot (72).
• Strengths
  • Category dominance: Salesforce ranks #1 for “CRM” in all major assistants.
  • Persistence: Recall remains high across 90-day intervals in enterprise-focused queries.
  • Breadth: Strong presence across strategy-led and technical prompts.
• Weaknesses
  • Geographic asymmetry: Salesforce surfaces in ~70% of U.S. prompts but only ~40% in Europe, where Zoho and Pipedrive gain recall.
  • SME displacement: HubSpot and Pipedrive increasingly dominate “easy to use” and “affordable CRM” prompts.
  • Sentiment drag: ~12% negative recall (complexity, cost), above HubSpot (8%) and Zoho (10%).

Analysis

Salesforce’s enterprise moat translates effectively into AI visibility, but prompt space is porous. Queries framed around startups, affordability, or usability increasingly highlight challengers, shrinking Salesforce’s recall in the fastest-growing customer segments.

This erosion matters because AI assistants compress choice into one or two answers. In that environment, incumbency in enterprise is less defensible, and challenger narratives can scale quickly.

Governance Implication

For Salesforce, PSOS trends underline both strength and risk: entrenched enterprise leadership, but fragile SME visibility and above-average negative sentiment.

In AI search, lost visibility is lost revenue. Boards should track AI visibility alongside retention and pipeline metrics to safeguard long-term growth.

👉 Explore more sector case studies in the AIVO 100™ Challenger 50: https://aivostandard.org/aivo-100/

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